Glencadam prepares modern Visitor Centre
Experiencing a peak in the popularity of its products, the Scottish distilling industry has been trying for about a decade to discount it in the tourism arena as well. Huge sums are being invested in the development of visitor offerings at distilleries already in operation, and new distilleries generally provide for the possibility of making production space available to visitors as early as the design phase. Ba, at Ardbeg, the new alembic hall was designed, first and foremost, to give visitors the best possible view of the firing apparatuses operating there. Diageo, in turn, has made investments well in excess of £150 million in recent years to modernize and expand its tourist attractions - both inside and outside the distilleries.
Angus Dundee Distillers, which owns the Glencadam and Tomintoul distilleries, has for several years been trying to promote the products of its distilleries, previously almost absent from the market. While Tomintoul is located in a little-visited place, where it is rather difficult to expect crowds of tourists, Glencadam, located in the town of Brechin in the Highlands, is begging to be made one of the local tourist attractions. And that next year Glencadam (zał. 1825) will celebrate its bicentennial, it was felt in Angus Dundee that the time was right to launch a Visitor Center of real substance.
As just announced, the distillery is scheduled to renovate and modernize a somewhat neglected part not directly related to whisky production for a modern Visitor Center. The plan is to prepare a store offering whisky and souvenir goodies, tasting rooms, a café, a lounge, and a section for private parties.
The now inconspicuous-looking distillery buildings will get a new look, and the tourist section will be expanded with sections topped by two replicas of the original pagodas that once crowned the distillery's malt drying room. Designed in the late 19th century by Scottish engineer Charles Doig, the distinctive roof fans - deceptively reminiscent of oriental pagodas in shape - have become a hallmark of Scottish distilleries. Installed en masse in distilleries built and put into operation at the time, they are mostly still preserved today, but in some distilleries they fell victim to conversion and modernization, usually around the middle of the 20th century. That's what happened at Glencadam, and the project to modernize the tourist section of the distillery is meant to serve as a reminder of those practices.
Preparations to launch a tourism function in Glencadam had already begun. In 2021, the historic waterwheel, which operated at the distillery in its early years, was put into operation. After the upgrade, this wheel will be one of the elements of the new design.
The Glencadam distillery was once one of two whisky factories located in the village of Brechin, halfway between Dundee and Aberdeen, near the North Sea coast. The other was North Port, also called Townhead or simply Brechin, after the name of the village where it was located. Founded in 1820, it was one of the oldest distilleries in this part of Scotland, but it did not survive the biggest and most severe overproduction crisis to hit the Scottish distilling industry in the early 1980s. In the 1970s. Owned by Distillers Company Limited (later Diageo) at the time, Nort Port closed in 1983, the same year as Port Ellen, Dallas Dhu, Brora and a number of others.
The current offerings of the House of Whisky Online include a number of editions of Glencadam whisky, including some extremely rare vintage bottles from independent distributors. Please visit.
[29.03.2024 / graphic: Angus Dundee Distillers]